Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gabriel Al-Amin

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Delete. EdJohnston (talk) 03:30, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Gabriel Al-Amin

Gabriel Al-Amin (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) (delete) – (View log)

This person appears to be a fabrication, a hoax, or at the least an inflated reputation/personal bio. There has only ever been one article published by them, which was reprinted in several less than noteworthy publications. There is no information anywhere available on the person themself, nor any evidence that they have ever written anything else, on any subject. Appears to just be one single-purpose editor maintaining and pushing for keeping the article. ← George [talk] 22:42, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

This appears to be a fabrication of sorts, akin to Google bombing. Many blogs and forums have the exact same copy-and-pasted message pointing to a single article by this otherwise unknown author, published on a non-neutral political site. It would appear that one person (possibly the author themself) is trying to build up this persona by linking to it from all sorts of various places. This author appears to have zero noteworthiness outside of this single article, and none of the personal claims in the Wikipedia entry can be verified (which leads me to suspect this is a personal bio). ← George [talk] 22:56, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment, although I have some problems using arabic script on my computer, an arabic google search gives no non-wiki results. --Soman (talk) 16:37, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Anti-Semitism and Racism Towards Israel on Wikipedia

Please don't delete Gabriel Al-Amin's secion. The fact that you guys remove Gabriel Al Amin section 3 times a day proves that you guys are biased towards one side. I am sure if someone, whom we will call "Person A," actually invented a fabricated character, whom we will call "Person B", and "Person A" would say that "Person B" is a famous columnist who published an article that Israel failed miserably in the Lebanon War, and that Israel is an evil occupier oppressor, I am sure you guys would not care about getting proof of "Person B's" existence as much as you guys would care about proof of the existence of Al Amin! But when someone like Al Amin, who does not share a 100% bashing Israel perspective (as much as you guys are), then you guys go bazerk and look for any excuse to have him taken down and hush him up. Even if "Person B" would not have even ever been published in even one newspaper you guys would probably let his section stay. But Al Amin has been published in 6 different newspapers. I found this too: http://arabdesk.co.il/ArticleView.aspx?id=99 I am not even Jewish, I am actually a Greek Orthodox, but i believe the section of Al Amin needs to be heard, since like i said again there are a lot of people in Lebanon that would agree with him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nicholausz (talk • contribs) 15:00, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

UsedID:Nicholausz has a similar IP address to LebanonWire.com, the source of this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.44.200.163 (talk) 16:48, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

  • "But Al Amin has been published in 6 different newspapers." All of which are obscure Israeli or US web sites and of the same article. That hardly makes 'him' a balanced authority of the Lebanese position, especially given the complex nature of Lebanese opinion. For someone who claims such an esteemed education (Oxford) and a public speaking record you would expect a better understanding of the English language as well as some record of activity outside Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.44.200.163 (talk) 16:55, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment "Anti-Semitism on Wikipedia... please don't delete" Yeah, and please don't throw Brer Rabbit in the briar patch either. Skip the reverse psychology crap. If you want it deleted, just say so, rather than trying to make it look as if people who want this kept are trying to play a race-card of some sort. Mandsford (talk) 17:32, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • This has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, and to brand it such does a huge disservice to all those who have been truly impacted by real anti-Semitism, so I'll thank the anonymous author (who I assume is the same person maintaining the article) to leave such inflammatory accusations at the door. This is Wikipedia, and for things to be included on Wikipedia, they have to meet a minimum bar of notability and verifiability. This article does not, and being more vocal in your support, throwing around false accusations, and going against policy and procedure (such as deleting the {{prod}} tag, or violating 3RR) do not change that. ← George [talk] 17:58, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • It's also great that he accused all the editors removing that section from the Lebanon War article - "you guys are biased towards one side" (against Israel). I'm more used to being accused of being pro-Israel, not anti-Israel... I take that as a sign I'm doing okay. okedem (talk) 18:16, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment: I think this debate is in need of some clarity. Of the eight sources on this version of the page about Mr. Al-Amin, four are copies of material written by him, one is a self-reference, one is a link to a Yahoo! Answers discussion, one does not make clear its connection to Mr. Amin and one is a reliable, third-party source. Please provide more of the latter. 69.140.152.55 (talk) 05:20, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
Which do you consider to be a reliable, third-party source? I didn't really find any of the references sufficient. ← George [talk] 06:40, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
Neutral: The hnn.us blog seems to be a reliable source, as the blogger is apparently a noted expert in the field, but more sources are needed. Also, I disagree with those who say that the subject is a hoax. And the topic is more important than much that is found on Wikipedia. That having been said, the fact that the article uses the self-published sources as a primary means for verification is a major weakness. On balance, I would say there are satisfactory arguments both for and against deletion. 69.140.152.55 (talk) 08:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
I'll give you that it's not as bad as the other sources, but I still find it problematic. First, obviously, it's a blog, so this blog entry won't have any editorial oversight (so no fact or source checking). Second, the blog entry isn't about Gabriel Al-Amin, it just references him with a link to the same, single article (broken link by the way) when talking about the war. Third, I'm not sure the author is "a noted expert in the field". She doesn't have a Wikipedia article, which makes me wonder about her notability, but at least her bio states that she's been a professor at a couple universities in Israel and one in Denmark, and written a couple books, so she could be. I wouldn't say that Gabriel Al-Amin is a hoax per se, but given the lack of anything confirming the existence of this person, I would say it is more likely either (a) a pseudonym used by someone else, whose motives, qualifications, and affiliations are completely unknown, or (b) a person named Gabriel Al-Amin, who really did write an article that by chance got picked up by a news wire and republished in several minor newspapers, but who still lacks the noteworthiness required of a Wikipedia article. ← George [talk] 09:08, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment: Please don't remove the Gabriel Al Amin section, if you guys want to remove it because it lacks reliable credibility, well i am sure that there were some entries on Wikipedia that had a million times less credibility than Al Amin and they got to stay. But I doubt Al Amin is a made up character because his article was published in 6 different places. So please let it stay. This is Wikipedia, not Encarata or Britanica. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nicholausz (talk • contribs) 18:41, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
This is Wikipedia, not MySpace. See WP:OTHERCRAP for some guidance. --Soman (talk) 18:44, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.